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Blackfeet Begin to Build State’s First Wind Farm The Blackfeet
Tribe is teaming up with one of the nation’s leading wind power companies to build Montana’s first commercial wind
farm. SeaWest WindPower, an 18-year-old company based in San Diego, has developed wind projects
that produce 544 megawatts of electricity in Wyoming, California, the United Kingdom and Spain. SeaWest’s 22-megawatt power project with the Blackfeet will generate enough electricity
for more than 6,000 homes. “The Blackfeet have a tremendous wind and land resource,” SeaWest President Jan Paulin
said. “This project will tap that resource to create highly skilled employment opportunities on the Blackfeet Reservation
and a true, commercially viable export industry.” Tribal officials, who began dabbling in wind power in 1996, said a pair of demonstration
projects in Browning have proven that wind power is feasible and profitable. Because of its proximity to the Rocky
Mountains, the reservation has an average annual wind speed of 20 miles per hour, making it one of the most productive
areas for wind power in North America. “Gaining electricity from the winds here on the reservation has been talked about for
many years,” Tribal Chairman Earl Old Person said. “We are gratified that this idea has finally become a reality.” Construction on at least 15 turbines will begin in May, and is expected to cost up to
$8 million. The turbines’ location has not yet been determined, but construction will employ about 30 workers for
six months next year. The project will provide four or five permanent jobs in the Browning area and an estimated
$250,000 per year to the tribal government once operation is underway in October 2001. Under a tentative agreement, the Blackfeet wind farm will provide energy at less than
five cents per kilowatt-hour to the Bonneville Power Administration in Oregon, Glacier Electric Cooperative in
Browning and the Montana Power Co. Industry watchers say the new wind farm is an excellent beginning in harnessing
Montana’s winds, which until now have been untapped as a commercial energy source. According to the American Wind
Energy Association, Montana’s winds have the potential to produce 116,000 megawatts of electricity. ”(The Blackfeet project) is not a huge power source, but as a wind farm, it’s a great
start,” said David Westine, associate professor of general engineering at Montana Tech in Butte. “It’s a very manageable
entry for Montana into wind energy. I think there is a future in it just because it’s nonpolluting and it’s a renewable
energy source.” Westine predicts that the federal government someday will require power companies to generate
a portion of their electricity from “green” sources such as wind, thus reducing the demand for coal and nuclear
power. Already, the U.S. Department of Energy hopes green energy will account for at least 10,000 megawatts of
the country’s consumption by 2010. Nationwide, wind energy is emerging as an alternative energy source that many customers
say they’d pay extra to use. In 1980, wind turbines generated fewer than 10 megawatts; today, they generate approximately
2,650 megawatts – enough to power more than 1 million households. American Wind Energy Association
http://www.awea.org/
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